Causes Or Cures

Send us a textContinuing the exploration of industry's influence on healthcare and health policy, in this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Joel Lexchin and Dr. Lisa Parker about the influence drug companies have over patient groups. They will describe what patient groups are (why they are needed & the variety of work they do), why drug companies have a vested interest in patient groups, how drug companies fund and influence the groups (and sometimes even create them) and how the groups influence healthcare policy. They will also discuss practical things that can be done to make the overall health system put patients over profit.  Dr. Lexchin is a professor at York University, where he teaches pharmaceutical policy, an emergency medicine physician, a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, a member of the Ontario Drug Quality and Therapeutics Committee and was chair of the Drugs and Pharmacotherapy Committee of the Ontario Medical Association. Dr. Parker is an honorary se